Nearly everyone's had it happen to them at one time or another. Getting charged with breaking the law is a humiliating, awkward, and potentially expensive process. This is as simple of a guide as can be found to help get your minor or potentially major case dropped from court, get the charges downgraded, or get a lesser punishment than what the opposing side was hoping for in the beginning. Keep in mind, the best way to get off a criminal charge is to hire a lawyer, as this guide advises. If that is not possible, though, there are a few other things to keep in mind.

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Steps

1

Speak to a lawyer as soon as you find out you are being charged with a crime. While this article is to help you get out of that charge, nearly every case is unique in some way. While it may set you back a couple hundred dollars, or thousand, if you chose to use the lawyer in court, this is the best way to legally get your charge to be reduced to a less serious one, or even dropped. Be prudent about which lawyer you chose, especially if you're planning to get the charge dropped entirely. Make sure you are very upfront with your lawyer about your desires. They can't help you achieve the goal if they don't know what it is.

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2

Investigate first time offenders programs. Many States and counties have programs that have been developed to provide first time offenders and option other than final conviction. The idea is that the defendant takes on some type of punishment such as probation in exchange for an agreement from the State to dismiss the charge if they are successful at staying out of trouble. Your lawyer will have more details about these programs.

3

Read all papers given to you. This is especially important if you cannot afford a lawyer, or if you simply chose not to speak to one. In some cases, there is a loophole written in throughout the legal jargon. If you are not given any papers, or if you find no loophole through your reading of the papers, find the law that you are actually being charged with breaking, in its entirety. Beware, as some laws are extremely long- think book long, and not short story. The longer the law, though, the more lucky you may be, as the exceptions to the law are normally listed throughout.

4

Prepare for the trial in advance. This means not only have what you plan on saying prepared- have everything, down to the way you're going to look that day, planned out like clockwork. This is vital to being the perfect attitude on the day of the trial- a mixture of caution, fear, and confidence is normally what you would want to be going for, regardless of if you committed the crime or not. It doesn't matter either way, since you are being charged with the crime no matter what.

5

Visit other courts, especially when the defendant (which is the person being charged with the crime) is said to have committed the same offense that you, yourself are being charged with. Note their demeanor, what their lawyer says, if they have one, and how the judge responds. This is critical- if you hear the defendant using the same idea you were formulating to get off as their reason, pay especially close attention to the judge at that point, and the lawyers as well. If the opposing lawyer, once again, if there is one, seems worried by that defence, that's probably a good thing. It's a good defence, and probably a safe bet for a later date. If the opposing lawyer and the judge seem annoyed or uninterested in it, you may want to think of a new idea. It's probably been used to death at that point, and when a good idea, such as temporary insanity, is used to the point that some of them are, once more, such as temporary insanity, it becomes downright patronizing. Know what you'll say, and know what to expect.

6

Find a "criminal", or just someone that's gotten charged with anything other than a minor traffic violation, which is normally useless for help. Ask them about their personal experience in court, especially if they committed the offense you're being charged with. If they got off the charge, even better! Cling to them until they've told you all they know! Not literally, of course, but find out exactly what they said or did, or what their lawyer said or did, and keep that in mind.

7

Be prepared to have to compromise. This is the ultimate question when you are considering what to do in court- if you have come to this page, you are clearly trying to get off entirely from a charge. Sometimes that is possible. Other times, you may just have to compromise and plead guilty. This is a poor idea if you are, in fact, not guilty, but if you are guilty and you know it, admit it. You will almost always get a lighter sentence for pleading guilty and not wasting the courts times with lies of being not guilty.

8

Talk to the arresting police officer about possibly dropping the charge. This is a long shot at best, but sometimes you can convince the officer to see reason in your argument. The best time for this is just a couple of days after the arrest in particular, or during the arrest. Just a couple days later, s/he will have had time to calm down from the possible excitement of the incident, think things over, but still vividly remember what happened. Any later, and they will have had time to dramatize the incident in their mind, and that, if anything, you do NOT want. Even if you don't convince them to drop the charges, you can at least show them that you are caring individual who would normally not break the law, and are extremely sorry for what you did, or that it was illogical for the incident to have actually happened, and that they were actually mistaken. If you can convince them of either of these things in some form or another, their testimony will be compromised.

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Tips

On the court date, be polite, quiet, and well-groomed. Showing up in all leather with half a plate of spaghetti in your beard is the best way to end up sent to jail in the judge's mind before the trial even begins.

Keep in mind, if the punishment in question is a fine, going to court for it will INCREASE the fine about one hundred dollars, possibly even more in certain cases. Make sure you are that confident about your case before even considering going to court over it.

If you do chose to get a lawyer, don't go to one of the ones you see on television or have enormous ads in the Yellow Pages. The fact that the attorneys have enough money to advertise like that indicates that their prices are extremely high and, in addition, that they don't have enough clients! If they had enough clients, they wouldn't be advertising for more. If you have a family lawyer, stick with him/her. These types of attorney are often not actually handling your case but are instead passing you on to another attorney that pays them for the referral.

Be on the look out for first time offenders programs.

If the criminal charge is a minor traffic problem and your reason for wanting to get off is because you can't afford the ticket, discuss this with the judge. Many judges will give you an extension on the fine, or allow you to break up the payments into very low amounts.